Annual Chinese New Year Twilight Parade rocks Sydney

SYDNEY, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- George Street, one of Sydney's major streets, is filled with hundreds of galloping horses on Sunday night, as the City of Sydney's Chinese New Year Twilight Parade weaves its way through the city.

Rocking horses, jockeys, chess knights and the parade's special guest -- a giant horse -- marched through the streets as Sydney welcomes the Year of the Horse in style.

This-year's Twilight Parade includes over 2,700 performers and 32 floats. A total of 350 world-class performers came from Beijing and provinces of Shaanxi and Hunan of China.

Mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore, said the annual Twilight Parade is always the highlight of the city's Lunar New Year celebrations.

"The parade is a fantastic event to enjoy with family and friends and it's the perfect way to celebrate the diversity of our great city and soak up the magic of Chinese New Year," she said.

Chinese Ambassador to Australia Ma Zhaoxu, Chinese Consul General in Sydney Li Huaxin and some other Australian officials beside the mayor attended the celebration, with over 100,000 people lining in two sides of the street.

The parade kicked off at 8 p.m., starting at Sydney Town Hall and weaving its way through Chinatown. It will finish with a fireworks display at Cockle Bay at midnight.